by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Planning, Productivity, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 23 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Minimal effort means avoiding work
— From 10-Minute Reflections: One Month Of Daily Exercises That Will Spark Growth In Your Business by Graham Binks
This book is a very quick read of daily exercises to make us think about business in a different way. The author, Graham Binks, is an expert in helping businesses get the best out of their technology investments. He has worked with numerous business leaders, who often ask, “How do we know we’re doing enough?” To what his answer is, “Start by making sure you’re not doing too much.”
Whaaaaaat?!
Yes. To optimize processes, you and your team need to be doing the minimal effort necessary. But please note that this doesn’t mean a mediocre effort at all—on the contrary—it means the best effort without wasting any of it. Thus, avoiding work that turns out to be unnecessary and wasteful, and that could be geared to other productive efforts instead.
Binks shares that when you are planning a successful outcome and think through the steps required in the process, you’ll naturally go from start to finish. And when you’re repeating work that someone in your team has done in the past, they can vouch for the steps taken previously.
“But if you haven’t perfected this kind of work (or your team hasn’t experienced it at all), there’ll be guesswork in the plan. And with guesswork comes extraneous effort.” In his experience, Binks has seen many plans that specified work that turned out to be detached from the critical outcomes of the project.
Thus, he offers a simple review exercise for you and your team “to make sure your projects aren’t wasteful.” This works best with projects when the planning phase is nearly finished—before the actual work starts—or you can apply it as a debriefing exercise on finished projects to see what will work best in the future.
Exercise: Being Minimalist
1. List the 10 project activities that took the most effort to complete in the following way:
#1 _________________ Rank___ Skip?___
#2 _________________ Rank___ Skip?___
Etc.
2. Above, rank these activities by their importance to the project outcome—highest contribution to lowest.
3. Starting with the lowest ranked activity, ask whether the project would have been a success if this activity had been skipped.
If the answer is “Yes!”, congratulations. You’ve found an activity that is not required on the plan. Take it out and save everyone time and energy. Then repeat the exercise with the next activity up the list.
Sometimes, what seems to be a simple exercise can reveal profound inefficiencies. Hope this helps optimize your projects and simplify your effort for a better outcome!
ACTION
TODAY: Think of a project you’re about to start or one that you repeat often. Go through this exercise to find the optimal path to completion.
FUTURE: As you’re planning for projects, or as you finish them, go through this exercise to make sure you’re not doing too much (avoiding wasteful efforts) and your project is running as optimally and as smoothly as possible!
Know someone who needs to optimize their projects? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Planning, Time, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The power of positive rituals
— From The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.
In The Power of Full Engagement, authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz state that only 5 percent of our behavior is consciously done in the moment. Instead, they point out, we truly are creatures of habit: “As much as 95 percent of what we do occurs automatically or in reaction to a demand or an anxiety.”
If that is the case, how can we harness the power of habits or rituals? In this post we learned from Peter Shankman the importance of creating rituals. Rituals work because they become ingrained habits that lead us to the successful outcome we want.
But what is so special about rituals?
The power of rituals is that they “conserve energy,” that is, they are so deeply instilled that we don’t think about them. Every morning, among your ritual activities you brush your teeth. Do you think how to do it? Likely you don’t. You do it on autopilot. And it’s such a set ritual that you would never go a day without doing it!
Contrast rituals to will and discipline: “[the latter] imply pushing ourselves to action, [whereas] a well-defined ritual pulls us. We feel somehow worse if we don’t do it.”
Positive rituals are, “precise, conscious, acquired behaviors that become automatic in our lives, fueled by a deep sense of purpose.” The key is to keep our purpose and our goals in mind, and build positive rituals around them in all dimensions of life—physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. And when we create the environments and the routines for the rituals to take place, the payoff is clear because every ritual reinforces each other; and all together they push us to the top.
“Positive energy rituals are powerful on three levels,” the authors state. “[First,] they help us to insure that we effectively manage energy in the service of whatever mission we are on. [Second,] they reduce the need to rely on our limited conscious will and discipline to take action. Finally, rituals are a powerful means by which to translate our values and priorities into action—to embody what matters most to us in our everyday behaviors.”
ACTION
TODAY: Think of your established rituals. What additional ritual could you build and peg to one of them so that it can help you reach your goals faster?
FUTURE: Don’t try to set up a bunch of new rituals all at once. Give yourself time to turn them into habits according to your values and priorities. Create one new ritual and do it for 3 months. Once you feel that you are missing something if you don’t do it, then you know it’s become a habit. That is when you know it’s established and you can then go on to build the next one.
Please create a ritual of sharing the daily posts with someone so that more people can benefit from the EntreGurus daily ideas. 😀 You can do so via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Celebration, Growth, Leadership, Mindset
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 12 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Learning from Dad
— From What Made Me Who I Am by Bernie Swain
Happy Father’s Day!
Whether you a father, love a father, father a beloved pet, or father a project or an idea, I hope you have a fantastic day with your loved ones!
Today I’ll share a father story from a book that I love: What Made Me Who I Am by Bernie Swain. The book is a collection of stories—some happy, some sad, but all beautiful, inspiring and moving—that leaders, heads of state, athletes, business executives, and public figures have told the author. Swain is the cofounder and Chairman of Washington Speakers Bureau, today’s foremost authority in the lecture industry. (Here’s a book review I wrote for The New York Public Library.)
Throughout the book, Swain shares the human side of these larger-than-life personalities. One of the themes that he repeatedly sees is, “That we grow up, become our own person, and still, for many of us, the powerful urge to make our parents happy remains.”
It’s only natural that we want our parents to be proud of us, and that was the case with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She says that her dad, Josef Korbel, “was a remarkable man and the most important influence on [her] life. It was his clearheaded and fair minded character that saw [her] through an unsettled, even tumultuous childhood, and that set a standard [she has] endeavored to live up to ever since.”
Josef was a diplomat who moved to London, as the Czechoslovak government in exile was there after the Nazis invaded Prague. He would walk young Madeleine to school every day before catching a train to work. “As we walked, he would encourage me to do my best in school, and in life, and to always treat people with respect,” recalls Albright.
When the war ended, Josef was made Ambassador to Yugoslavia, and then representative to the United Nations. When the communists took over Czechoslovakia, Josef didn’t want to be a part of that government and went—as a political exile—to teach international relations at the University of Denver.
While in Denver, the family lived in a small and cramped house, and Josef set up a makeshift study in the basement. The problem was that the basement flooded constantly so he “would sit at his desk, working away with his feet up on bricks.” Yet they all laughed about it and took it with equanimity and grace.
Albright recalls that, as a teenager, she was embarrassed by her dad. Josef, being Old World European, tried to fit in his new surroundings in Colorado. Thus, “He took up fishing—wearing a coat and tie. There he was, looking like the very model of a European diplomat—tailored suit, combed back hair, wire-rim glasses, and a pipe—casting his rod.”
Yet every night the family would sit down to dinner together, “and the topic of conversation inevitably turned to foreign affairs,” says Albright. “Although our lives had been nomadic, my parents maintained a consistency that made it all seem normal.”
And it is thanks to all this that the former Secretary of State fell in love with the international arena. As she remembers her father, she says, “Through it all, I’ve felt that my father was with me, perched on my shoulder, still following me around, inspiring me. The volatile politics of Eastern Europe short-circuited his diplomatic career. That has always been on my mind and I hope that in some small way, I’ve made him proud. Being secretary of state is a challenging experience. But I never had any trouble staying focused. I just had to picture my father in his flooded basement study, working away with his feet up on bricks.”
ACTION
TODAY & FUTURE: Go hug your loved ones and tell them how much they mean to you!
Share this post with a father today! You can do so via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 59 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: What are you giving up to go up?
— From Thinking for a Change: 11 Ways Highly Successful People Approach Life and Work by John C. Maxwell
Leadership guru John C. Maxwell reminisces about his father who used to say, “Find the one thing you do well and don’t do anything else.” Following that guidance has taken Maxwell to the realization that, to do a few things well, he has had to give up many others.
“No one can go to the highest level and remain a generalist,” says Maxwell. And this is so true, especially nowadays, where we are pulled in a myriad directions, spread too thin, multitasking and living with FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), and expected to know and give an educated opinion on everything from the Syrian refugee crisis, to the new coach of the Real Madrid soccer team, to the latest environmental policy in California.
And while “giving up” sounds like a heavy sacrifice that we must reluctantly make, the truth is that it is not when we reframe it and simply see it as a choice. We already make choices, willingly and happily, anything from Mexican vs. Chinese food to vacationing in one place vs. another.
The same should apply here. Make willing choices and you’ll be able to focus on the one or few things that you do best and that will take you to the top (whatever the definition of top is for you).
Here are some of those choices Maxwell has made. They make a lot of sense and I think they aptly apply to us all.
You can’t know everyone.
Maxwell is outgoing and loves people, so it’s hard for him not to spend time with lots of people. Yet even if you are an introvert, you may be pulled in the direction of getting to know people in your field and attend events. To deal with this, Maxwell has done two things: “First, [he’s] chosen a strong inner circle of people. They not only provide professional help, but they also make life’s journey much more pleasant. Second, [he asks] certain friends to catch [him] up on what’s happening on the lives of other friends.”
You can’t do everything.
“There are only a few exceptional opportunities in any person’s lifetime. That’s why [Maxwell strives] for excellence in a few things rather than a good performance in many.” For instance, he’s an avid reader, yet he doesn’t read novels or any kind of fiction, instead, he’s chosen to dedicate his reading time to nonfiction as those books are the ones that propel the personal and professional growth he desires.
Maxwell also outsources everything he’s not good at, specifically, technical matters, mechanic or electronic. He can’t do it and does not have the knowledge, so he let’s someone who does have it do the job. Easier and faster.
He also works with his team on what he calls the 10-80-10 principle. Even though there are projects that Maxwell would love to do, he delegates them and only becomes involved as follows: he helps “with the first 10 percent by casting vision, laying down parameters, providing resources and giving encouragement.” Then his team work on the middle 80% and he comes in at the end again to “help them take whatever it is the rest of the way” (if he can). He considers this last effort putting the cherry on top.
You can’t go everywhere.
The traveling demands of a conference speaker and author are high, so Maxwell has chosen not to travel as much as he did before.
You can’t be well-rounded.
Being truly focused impedes being ‘”well-rounded.” Maxwell tells people: “ Ninety-nine percent of everything in life I don’t need to know about.” He focuses on the one percent that gives him the highest return. Of the other 99%, his wife and team keep him aware whenever he needs to know, and that’s how he balances his life.
This reminds me of lifestyle design guru, Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek who doesn’t read or listen to the news. He says: “Most information is time-consuming, negative, irrelevant to your goals, and outside of your influence. I challenge you to look at whatever you read or watched today and tell me that it wasn’t at least two of the four.” Ferriss is another one who has made some choices to be a pioneer in his field.
So, what choices are you making to get to where you want to go?
ACTION
TODAY: Determine what choices you will make today that will take you in the direction of your goals.
FUTURE: Take some time to think about your life and the choices you’ve made so far. What other choices can you make to be focused on reaching your goals?
Know someone who needs to give up a few things to go up? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Growth, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Time
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 18 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Creativity is subtraction
— From: Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
In yesterday’s post we were talking about setting limits and constraints. Today we will continue along those lines, yet we will focus on creative work according to Austin Kleon’s concepts in his book Steal Like An Artist.
But first, let’s remember that we’re using the term creative in a broad sense, as described by Todd Henry (in this post) who says, “if you’re responsible for solving problems, developing strategies, or otherwise straining your brain for new ideas, I’m going to call you a creative.”
Under that light, we are all creatives and, as such, we may sometimes experience a creative block. “The way to get over a creative block,” Kleon says, “is to simply place some constraints on yourself. It seems contradictory, but when it comes to creative work, limitations mean freedom. […] Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities.”
Kleon points out that one way of doing this is simply choosing what to leave out and getting started. “Don’t make excuses for not working—make things with the time, space, and materials you have, right now.” You can start a business without capital, for example. “Shoot a movie with your iPhone and a few of your friends. Build a machine out of spare parts.”
This reminds me of the famous quote by Arthur Ashe: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Kleon mentions that the right constraints can lead to your best work, and shares his favorite example: “Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat with only 236 different words, so his editor bet him he couldn’t write a book with only 50 different words. Dr. Seuss came back and won the bet with Green Eggs and Ham, one of the bestselling children’s books of all time.”
“In the end,” Kleon sums up, “Creativity is subtraction. [… It] isn’t just the things we choose to put in, it’s the things we choose to leave out.” So, he advises, “Choose wisely. And have fun.”
ACTION
TODAY: Think about the limitations that you can set for a creative project in which you’re involved now. What will you choose to leave out?
FUTURE: As you come across new projects or ideas, think of the limits you can set by leaving things out. Sometimes the selection of what to leave out is as easy as the recognition of what is missing or what we are lacking: money, a cofounder, a team, a finished product, etc. When you get started, these constraints will point you in the direction of becoming leaner and more agile, and your mind will come up with very creative ideas to make things work.
Know someone who needs to subtract things from his/her creative endeavors? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter!
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 40 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Compare well
— From: Habit Changers: 81 Game-Changing Mantras to Mindfully Realize Your Goals by M. J. Ryan
We’ve all heard that we should not compare ourselves to others, but it’s impossible not to do it, says, M. J. Ryan, leading expert on change and human fulfillment. “Part of what our prefrontal cortex exists to do is take in information and compare that to conclusions and judgments it has previously made.”
Comparison is a helpful skill that has helped mankind from time immemorial. The problem comes nowadays when we see our full picture, struggles and all, and compare ourselves to someone else’s highlight reel, be it on social media or somewhere else. It’s not a fair comparison: it’s not apples to apples.
“Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle, or your middle to someone else’s end. Don’t compare the start of your second quarter of life to someone else’s third quarter.” ― Tim Hiller (From: Strive: Life is Short, Pursue What Matters)
Ryan says, “We look around, rank ourselves on some invisible scale of achievement and usually find ourselves wanting. There’s always someone who’s done more, made more money, gotten more glory, no matter our age and stage.” It seems like a futile exercise that only creates anxiety and despair, since we will never be as far along as other people against whom we compare ourselves.
However, since our brains are wired to compare, “what we can do about this tendency of our brain… is to be sure we compare well.”
But what exactly does that mean?
According to Ryan, comparing well means, “reminding [yourself] to orient toward the success [you] truly want. […] It will ensure you’re comparing yourself by measurements you truly value.
Ryan recalls a story of one of her clients who was complaining about not being as successful as some of her peers. Ryan taught her to compare well by asking, “What does success look like to you?” To which the client answered immediately, “Being my own boss, having the freedom to do things when and how I want.” Then Ryan asked, “So, when you compare your situation to others given those criteria, what do you notice?” And her client replied, “I’ve already got what I want! I’ve been so busy comparing myself against a yardstick I’m not even interested in that I didn’t even notice the success I’ve created.”
Going forward, since you will compare—because now we know we all do—use Ryan’s insights to compare well. Ask yourself what success looks like to you and what you notice when you compare your situation to others given those criteria. This way, when you compare, there will be no more despair and anxiety. Instead, what you’ll get is an eye-opening experience: gratitude for what you’ve accomplished, self-compassion for what you haven’t done yet, and renewed willingness and motivation to take action on your goals.
ACTION
TODAY & FUTURE: If you are going to compare, compare well. Write down the two questions: “What does success look like to you?” and “So, when you compare your situation to others given those criteria, what do you notice?” Keep them handy and get in the habit of pulling them out when you find yourself making comparisons.
Know someone who would benefit from comparing well? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
